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When Trump met with Angela Merkel, he wanted to learn how she managed to run such a smart government. So he asked her, “What’s your secret?”

She replied, “I surround myself with smart people.”

“But how do you know if they’re smart?” Trump asked.

“It’s very simple,” Merkel said. “Take for example Wolfgang Schäuble, my finance minister. To determine if he was smart, I called him up and asked him a question. ‘Wolfgang, who is your father’s son but is not your brother?’ Wolfgang thought a moment before replying, ‘It’s me!'”

Trump took this great advice to his vice president. “Hey Pence, who is your father’s son but not your brother?”

Pence stroked his chin and said he’d have to get back to him about that. Then Pence went off to his office and tried to think who was a smart person he could ask this question. And he thought of Barack Obama.

So he rang up Obama and said, “Hey, who is your father’s son but not your brother?”

Obama thought about it a moment and then replied, “It’s me.”

“Thanks very much,” Pence said, and hung up. Then he went to tell Trump. “Mr President, I know the answer to your question. It’s Barack Obama.”